


Crashed Spaceship

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alien Cas, Alien Culture, All The Other Aliens Die In The Crash, Community College Professor Sam, M/M, Mechanic Dean, Winchesters Help Cas Adjust to Earth, referenced Max Banes/Benny Lafitte, tfwbigbang2017, updated with Tumblr prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-12-24 04:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12005178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: The ship is going down.  There's no avoiding it.  Castiel does everything he can to prepare, and then straps in and hopes for the best.When the ship is down, it's found almost immediately.  Castiel had the good fortune to be found by two people who were willing to help him instead of turning him over to the government to deal with.  From what he'd seen in orbit, the government would probably make the rest of his life miserable.  The Winchesters, on the other hand, are perfectly willing to make his life as comfortable as it can be on the alien world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kuwlshadow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuwlshadow/gifts).



> Written for the Team Free Will Big Bang.
> 
>  
> 
> [Art by Kuwlshadow](http://kuwlshadow.tumblr.com/)  
> [Artist's post on Tumblr](http://kuwlshadow.tumblr.com/post/164997654628/title-crashed-spaceship-author)  
> [Artist's post on AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tfw_bb_2017/works/12243822)

The spaceship was crashing. No doubt about it. Castiel tried to get it to at least be somewhat controlled, so that he could aim it at land, but there was little he could do in the short time he had. He had to get himself braced.

Thankfully, his captain had been the type to believe in over-preparation. Even though their mission was observation only, no contact, Castiel had already had himself surgically altered to appear human, and his translator was programmed with English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Arabic. Those five languages covered enough of the world that he had a good chance of being able to communicate no matter where he landed.

That didn’t mean he didn’t wish he had help, especially Anna or Balthazar. Any of his crewmates would be useful, but those two were his best friends and the true experts. Unfortunately, out of the eight crewmembers, Castiel was the only one still alive after the initial disaster.

Castiel closed the cover of his pod. That was it. There was nothing he could do but wait and pray.

 

When the pod opened, Castiel found himself staring at two humans. He did a quick assessment. There’d been no time for him to identify the land mass he was aimed for. Both humans appeared adult, which Castiel was grateful for. Children would be far more trouble. Both appeared male, and their clothing was typical of the dominant culture of most of the world. He could be anywhere, though Europe or North America seemed most likely.

The taller human spoke, and Castiel was grateful to recognize the language as a dialect of English. “What do you think, Dean? What do we do?”

“Hope he comes in peace.” The shorter human, who appeared to be the leader of the two, held up a hand. “Hi. Can you understand me?”

“Yes.” Castiel carefully unbuckled himself from the pod’s straps. “I apologize for any damage caused by my landing. My ship was nearly destroyed and I couldn’t control the descent. Was anyone hurt?”

“No, you landed in the middle of nowhere. Sam and I were probably the only ones around for twenty miles.” Dean offered a hand for Castiel to pull himself out of the pod. “Are you okay?”

“I believe so.” Castiel took the hand, climbing out and testing his limbs and basic motor function. “What happens now?”

Dean shrugged. “You tell us, dude. You want to be taken to the government, or avoid them? Sam and I are pretty good about avoiding the government, if that’s what you want. We won’t let anyone take you if you don’t want to go.”

Castiel breathed a quick sigh of relief. “I’d prefer as little attention as possible. Protocol is clear – on a pre-first contact world, if you go down, blend in to the best of your ability and make sure your corpse will be destroyed. The strongest of us will suicide in a way that ensures that, but I don’t know if I can.”

“No rescue?” Sam asked.

“Too much attention. Too much risk. I’d have to signal my location, they’d have to extract me, and I’m not worth it.” Dean was scowling, and Sam was doing something with his eyes that made him look like a puppy who’d just been kicked. “It’s all right. I knew the risks when I volunteered for the mission.”

Dean’s scowl didn’t lessen, but he nodded. “So what happens to us? I mean, we know you’re not from here.”

“I’m hardly in any position to do much to you if you can’t keep a secret. If you don’t mind, I could use some help. I know enough to fake it through a short conversation, but I don’t know how to go about blending in. Since you two already know enough of the truth to realize why I want it kept secret, you’d be the logical ones to ask for help.”

“Sammy?”

“He needs help, we can help. We’re awesome at avoiding attention we don’t want. I say let’s help however we can.”

“Thought you might.” Dean smirked a little and turned back to Castiel. “You got a name?”

“Castiel.”

“Really?”

“Well, really…” Castiel said his name in his own language. “My commander thought Castiel was the best fit, so I had it officially changed when I left. We all took on human names.”

“That makes sense.” Dean clapped a hand to Castiel’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Wait. I should probably get some things from the ship, if they survived the crash.” Castiel went through the wreckage, looking for food and medical supplies, or anything else that would help him survive.

Sam disappeared, but Dean followed Castiel. When they came across a body – Hester’s – Castiel paused. “We should probably burn those if we can. The incinerator might be working.”

“If it’s not, when Sam gets back we can do a salt and burn. We’re mostly out now, but we used to be in a job that required us to burn bodies all the time.” Fortunately, the incinerator was working, and Castiel and Dean were able to load the seven bodies in.

When Sam got back, he had an armful of empty duffle bags. “Dean and I can help you carry it all, and we’ll squeeze as much as we can into the car. The less we leave behind, the less there is for anyone to find. We might not be able to come back before officials get out here to investigate.”

“Thank you.” Castiel started loading the things he’d gathered into the bags. As soon as two bags were full, Sam picked them up and took them to the car. Dean helped Castiel gather things. By the time Dean said the car couldn’t hold anymore if the three of them were going to be in there too, Castiel had gotten everything he’d hoped for and some bonuses that were going to be very nice to have.

Compared to the spaceship, Dean’s vehicle was slow and confining. Something for him to get used to, Castiel supposed. He’d probably need to learn to operate something like it.

They approached a house. Sam turned around to face Castiel. “This is where we live with our friend Bobby. If you trust us, you can trust him. He won’t ask too many questions, and he’ll keep your secret as closely as he keeps ours. Do you have any ideas for a cover story when people start asking who you are and where you came from?”

“Perhaps. I’ll need to find a way to get falsified documents, I know. We may as well stick to something reasonably true – I’m a scientist who recently left the military and is somewhat adrift.”

Sam nodded. “I’ll talk to Ash, get him to fake those for you. Ash is the best I know – he doesn’t just make the fake documents, he’ll hack computers so that if someone calls to check on you, the computers will back up your claims. We can just tell him you’re a hunter like Dean and Bobby and I are. He won’t question it.”

 

Bobby was a gruff man significantly older than Sam and Dean. He barely batted an eye when Dean introduced him as their new friend who needed a place to stay for a while. Bobby helped carry the bags upstairs to a room. The three humans dropped off the bags and left Castiel alone to sort things out.

As soon as the door closed, Castiel slumped against it and sank to the floor. He’d been able to put on a brave face for the others, out of necessity, but now there was nothing to distract him from the enormity of his situation. He was alone on a strange planet, always one wrong move or word from discovery. It was overwhelming, and Castiel was terrified. What was he going to do?

So far, he’d been very lucky. Sam and Dean were the type of people he’d been taught to hope for. Bobby, too. There was still plenty of time for them to turn out to be lying or to change their minds, but so far, contact had gone as well as he could have wished. They were good people who seemed more interested in making sure that he was taken care of than putting him to work or studying him as a lab specimen. They were unlikely to hurt him or to treat him like a freak.

A knock at the door brought him out of his head. He pulled himself to his feet and answered the door. “Sam…?”

“Hi. Can I come in?” Castiel nodded and stepped aside. “Look, I don’t… none of us want you to feel like you’re a lab animal or anything. But there are some things we kind of need to ask so we don’t accidentally kill you, you know?”

“Of course.” Castiel sat on the bed. “I can breathe your air, obviously, although it’s not ideal. Like you, I require clean water for drinking. My nutritional requirements are somewhat different from yours, but with caution and supplements from my stash from the ship, I can manage on your food. I typically require four hours of sleep a day, but I can get by on less if a situation calls for it. Illness or injuries will be more complicated. I know basic first aid and I brought some diagnostic equipment and medicines from the ship, but I’m not trained to handle more complicated problems. And if I’m indisposed…”

Sam nodded in understanding. “The three of us will learn whatever you’re willing to teach us to handle emergencies.”

Castiel nodded and started thinking. “I’ll have to figure out… everything. Computers, cell phones, everything that your people take for granted. I’m afraid that I will soon annoy you and your friends. Please let me know if I ever become more trouble than I’m worth, and what I can do to give back until it’s time for me to move on.”

“Hey." Sam sat beside Castiel. "For now, you’ve got a lot to learn, don’t worry about contributing. Between Bobby’s salvage, Dean’s garage, and my work at the community college, we’re not in trouble for money around here. In the fall, I’d suggest taking some classes at my school. Spend this summer learning things like cell phones and thinking about what you might be interested in doing here.”

“Of course.” Castiel wasn’t entirely reassured, but he was breathing a little more easily. “I’m sorry. This is all…”

Sam chuckled. “You mean it’s hard realizing you’ve lost everything you’ve ever known and you have to figure out how to live among aliens? Don’t apologize for being overwhelmed. I don’t think I’d be handling the situation half as well as you have. Do you want me to leave you alone for a while?”

Right up until Sam said it, that’s exactly what Castiel thought he wanted. When Sam offered, though, Castiel’s chest tightened up and his heart started pounding. “No. Please. I’m a bit too alone at the moment.”

Sam smiled sympathetically and looked at the bags they'd brought from the crash. “Want to tell me about your world, or hear about mine?”

Castiel reached for one of the bags at his feet and took out a metal sculpture. “This is a representation of the god I worship. I’m very grateful I was able to keep it. The church teaches that in the beginning, God tried several times to create things, but his sister destroyed them as quickly as he could create them. Eventually, he sealed her away, but he had to sacrifice his favorite child in order to do it. His remaining children became our people.”

“That’s really sad, losing two members of your family at once. Even to create everything, I can’t imagine it. Of course, Dean and Bobby are all I have, so if I had to sacrifice them both, I’d be alone.”

“Among my kind, all people are family. Naturally, there are some you like more than others, but no matter how much you might hate your brother, he’s still your brother. We don’t make distinctions based on how closely related we are genetically, and children are raised with the people who were born around the same day they were, rather than their biological siblings. Identical twins are, theoretically, no more or less brothers than two people whose most recent common ancestors are twenty generations back.”

“Theoretically?”

“Twins often have a bond that unites them. It’s rare for twins to dislike each other and they’ll often end up in similar professions or hobbies.”

“So I’m guessing you guys don’t have… how do you keep inbreeding from becoming a problem?”

“In the old days, there were heritage keepers. You checked with them to get an estimate of how similar you were genetically. Once we decoded our genes, we developed genetic testing. We still have heritage keepers, but their jobs are more historical and ceremonial now. There’s also social traditions of marrying outside of your general area, which we believe to be a remnant of a time before heritage keepers.”

“Who were you with on your ship?”

“Good people. Gabriel was our captain. He was a joker and I was concerned about how seriously he would take our mission at first, but he loved your planet. He volunteered for every assignment here he could get. His first mate was Anael, our culture expert. She was a specialist in Earth history and culture, and in charge of much of the actual study we were doing. Balthazar was our ship’s engineer and responsible for defense. He kept the ship flying and watched for trouble. Which, unfortunately, means that he’ll be listed as the reason for the mission failure when they receive the emergency notification I sent before the crash.”

“What happened? If… I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to talk about it.”

“I’m not entirely certain. We were struck by something, I know. It hit the fuel storage compartments, causing a large explosion that set off several others. I was trying to help Balthazar shut down the fuel lines to the engine when the engine exploded. It killed Balthazar, but I was shielded from the shrapnel. Everyone else was dead by then, so I did what I had to.” Castiel swallowed and dropped his eyes. “Hester was our ship’s doctor, and her husband Inias was our computer expert. The scientists relied on him to handle data processing and writing programs for their observations and experiments. Rachel was our quartermaster and our expert in Earth biology. Uriel was a geologist, far more interested in the planet itself than in the people. I shudder to think what would have happened if he’d been the survivor instead of me.”

“What was your job, then?”

“I was the pilot. Once we were in orbit, there was little for me to do, but on the way here and the way back I was needed. Here, I usually worked with Rachel or Uriel, monitoring things while they slept or sifting through data that they wanted someone to go through by hand instead of relying on the computers.”

Sam was easy to talk to. He listened, asked questions that led Castiel off on tangents. By the time Dean came up, Castiel was feeling much better about his situation.

Dean stuck his head in. “You hungry, Cas? Sam was supposed to come back down and tell us what to feed you, but it looks like he got distracted.” He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

“I have no context for preferences, but your food is mostly safe for me to eat. Whatever you serve should be fine.”

“Okay. We’re gonna do dinner a little weird tonight. Bobby’s dug out a bunch of leftovers so that you can try a bunch of different things and give us something to go on for what you like.”

Sam got to his feet and gave Dean an apologetic look. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be up here so long, but we got talking…”

“I know, Sammy. Bobby too. Don’t worry about it. Kinda figured if there was a big concern you’d have made sure to tell us before you got talking about whatever it is you guys were talking about for three hours.”

 

For the first few days, Castiel spent most of his time translating his observational knowledge of humans to practical. Sam was nearly always around to help, or at least nearby for Castiel to go to if necessary. Finally, Castiel had to ask. “Why are you always around?”

Sam looked up from the computer he was typing on. “Sorry, I don’t mean to hover. If I’m bothering you, you can always tell me to go away.” He started to close the laptop.

“No! That’s not… that wasn’t what I meant. I’m grateful for the company. On the ship, I was rarely truly alone. I’m just concerned that you’re always the one sacrificing your time to be around for me. Aren’t you missing work?”

“Oh!” Sam ducked his head a little to hide the laugh. “No, I teach at the local community college, and the two classes I’m teaching this summer are both online. As long as I keep up with the grading and answer emails in a timely manner, I don’t have all that much to do. Before the crash, I’d planned to spend the free time working on a book I’m writing, but I’m okay with the slower progress. Come fall, I’ll have to go to work, but by then you’ll be a lot more used to things and probably have your own things to do anyway.”

Cas relaxed at that. “What do you teach?”

“History and mythology. Occasionally I teach a writing class, when they need one. This summer my two classes are early American history and Greek and Roman mythology.”

“I wish Anna could have met you. She’d have loved to talk to an actual expert in history. Not that she could have sent any reports home, but I know she would have enjoyed learning all she could while she was here.”

“Well, I’m only an expert in one small part. Anna probably could have taught me a lot – and talk about a foreign perspective! I have a hard time getting my students to, for example, consider the American Revolution from the British or French perspectives. Hearing the perspective of a complete alien about us… that would be fascinating. I know Anna was the expert, but you did some work with her, didn’t you?”

“Everyone on the mission had to learn enough about human cultures to not be too conspicuous in an emergency. I mostly worked with Rachel, but yes, I did work with Anna sometimes too.”

“Did you know any of them before the mission?”

“Anna was actually my human culture teacher when I signed up to come to Earth. Rachel and I were born two days apart, so we grew up together. We lost contact when I left for pilot training, but were very glad to see each other when Gabriel put the crew together.”

“Were you…”

“Not with Rachel. We were close friends, but never thought about mating. I was actually talking to Balthazar about mating when we got back. We hadn’t progressed very far but it seemed promising.”

“Waiting for a DNA check?”

“No. We didn’t need one.”

“Why not?”

“Because we were both male. Remember that our incest taboo is practically nonexistent, as long as your genetic makeup is dissimilar enough to avoid problematic inbreeding. If breeding is impossible, no sense worrying about the DNA.”

“Oh yeah. That makes sense. I’m sorry for your loss. What was he like?”

Castiel smiled and leaned forward. “The Balthazar I knew was a very loyal, dedicated, and hardworking person. There was little he wouldn’t do for any member of our crew, and he took his job very seriously. When Rachel noticed that I was getting interested, she was concerned, and when she heard that we’d begun talking about marriage, she warned me that he was very different on our world, in the downtime between jobs. She feared I wouldn’t like who he was then. I was willing to take that risk, but Balthazar agreed that Rachel’s concern was legitimate and wanted to wait.”

“Do you regret agreeing to wait?”

“No, I think I’ve lost more than enough without adding a husband to the list.”

Sam laughed. “That is a remarkably healthy perspective. Good for you.”

 

Sam’s patience and kindness helped Castiel deal with the loneliness, but so did Dean’s easy acceptance and earnest friendship. Dean loved having Cas around, because he had someone willing to go to the bar with him. Alcohol had little effect on Cas, which made Dean feel free to get as drunk as he wanted because Cas could drive him home if he didn’t leave with a girl.

Girls scared Cas. He hadn’t ever really thought about humans in a sexual sense before the crash. After all, contact was forbidden. Imagining having conversations, even practicing with Anna, was one thing. Physical contact beyond the friendly contact Dean was fond of or guiding hands in teaching Castiel to do something was another thing altogether. Faint though they were, his surgical scars would still be difficult to explain.

Even though Dean had seen some of the scars, he didn’t think it was that big a deal. He didn’t get Cas’s reticence. He didn’t push anything and he bailed Cas out when a girl was hitting on him and not taking no for an answer, but he figured that one day, Cas would want to get laid and frequently offered advice or help. Cas wasn’t so sure he’d ever want to get laid. He’d only taken that step once, before he was altered to appear human, and even that was educational rather than romantic. Besides, Castiel was too honest with himself at least to deny the fact that he’d developed a strong attraction to Sam.

Tonight, for once, Sam had come out to the bar with them instead of hanging back to write or catch up with students. When the girls started looking their way, Sam slung an arm over Cas’s chair, fingers barely brushing his back. Cas tilted his head in confusion.

“Play along. If they think you’re with me, they’ll leave us both alone. So unless you’ve changed your mind and you’d like to meet someone…”

“No. I’m trying to avoid attention, remember? But I don’t want to stop you from seeking companionship or cause problems for you. I know it’s not exactly universally accepted…”

Sam grinned, distracting Castiel momentarily with his dimples. “Thanks for the concern, but everyone around here already knows I’m bi and either doesn’t have a problem with it or at least knows that if they have a problem with it that me kicking their ass for it is the good option.”

“What’s the bad option?”

“Dean notices before I’m pissed off enough to handle it myself. I’m bigger, but Dean is way meaner than I am in a fight. They can try to hurt me but they’ll fail, my family knows, my bosses and coworkers know, pretty sure most of my students know, so there’s not much they can do by telling other people about it. Don’t worry about me. I’m not interested in sleeping with some random person I meet in a bar. I need to have a solid friendship before I’m ever interested in sex, and thinking I have a boyfriend isn’t going to stop someone looking for a friend.”

“In that case, thank you. You don’t mind people thinking you’re sleeping with your brother’s old college buddy?”

“You kidding me? Do you see the way that girl over there is glaring at me?” Castiel looked where Sam was pointing. The girl did look rather unfriendly, but he wasn’t sure it was directed at Sam. He’d have thought it was aimed at him. Sam grinned at Castiel’s confusion. “I have no problem at all with people thinking I’m dating you. This is actually kind of fun.”

“You’re warped.” Dean took his seat and passed out drinks. “Nothing personal, Cas. I just don’t get what’s so fun about pretending to be with someone.”

“Come on, Dean. If you had a reason to pretend that you were dating Lisa Braeden, you’d take it in a second.”

Dean snorted. “That’s different.” He glanced at Sam and raised an eyebrow. “Or not. Seriously?” He rolled his eyes and smacked Sam’s arm. “I guess I should’ve known this would happen. Be careful, okay?”

“Not stupid, Dean. Don’t worry about me.” Dean glared, and Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait. You approve?”

“Not sure I’d go that far, but yeah. Close enough.”

“Huh. Wasn’t expecting that. Thanks.”

“Do I want to know what just happened?” Castiel finally broke in with.

Sam scooted a little closer. “Honestly, I don’t know. You might love it or you might hate it so much that you decide you’re better off without us.”

“I can’t imagine what would make me decide that.”

“Oh, hey, speaking of Lisa Braeden. I’m off. May not be back. Bye.” Dean took off, heading for the bar and a pretty, dark-haired girl Castiel vaguely recognized as one of Dean’s favorites.

“Sam? Would you…” Castiel cut off as a girl approached and draped herself over Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Hello, Becky.”

“Sam! I haven’t seen you all summer! What have you been doing?”

“Working from home. Helping Dean at the garage, helping Bobby with the salvage, grading essays and trying to convince people that there’s a big difference between Hera, Hestia, and Helen. Have you met Cas?”

“I’ve seen him out here with Dean. Hi. I’m Becky. Sam’s girlfriend.”

Cas narrowed his eyes. Sam would have mentioned a girlfriend, wouldn’t he? Sam shook his head at Cas. “Becky’s not my girlfriend. She’s taken three of my classes and I think I saw her name on the class list that’s filling up for my fall Norse mythology class?” Becky nodded enthusiastically. “We’re not dating. We are not going to be dating.”

Becky winked. “Sam just says that because he’s worried that it’s unethical to date a student.”

Sam closed his eyes briefly before removing Becky’s arms from around his shoulders. “Becky, you are not my girlfriend. If you’re going to hang out with us, you need to get that through your head.”

“Do your students normally call you by your first name instead of calling you by your title?” Castiel asked.

“Not if they know what’s good for them." Sam sent a pointed look at Becky, who ignored it. "There’s a few I’ll make exceptions for, but those are usually people who are older than me and I’m struggling not to call them sir or Mr. Singer or whatever.” He grinned. “The semester Bobby took one of my history classes just for giggles was hilarious. In class, he was all deferential and respectful, but over dinner he’d rip my lecture to shreds.”

“Why didn’t he contradict you in class?” If he knew someone was teaching it wrong, he'd speak up. No sense in ruining people's education to spare a teacher's ego, even if the teacher was a friend.

“Because I wasn’t wrong, he just didn’t like how simplified some things were. Bobby’s a genius. I would love to teach to Bobby’s level, but I’d end up leaving most of my students behind. Even Bobby agrees that teaching them the simplistic version and having them learn it is better than teaching them the more nuanced version and having them learn absolutely nothing.” Sam threw back a long gulp of beer. “You thought about what you’d like to take this fall?”

“Have I been accepted?”

Becky laughed at him. “Everyone gets accepted, Cas. It’s a community college. They’re not exactly Stanford.”

“Oh. I was thinking history and biology. Would it be acceptable for me to take one of your classes?”

“If you’re planning on doing much history, it’s pretty much inevitable. Don’t worry about it. If Bobby can take a class with me, so can you. Worst case, one of the TAs will handle all the grading.”

That was a relief. “Good. I’ll look at the course catalog when we get home.”

Becky squealed. “Take the Norse mythology class! You can sit with me and I can help you.”

Sam sighed. “You might find it interesting, Cas. Not the most useful, but no reason you can’t have some fun, too.”

Cas looked at Becky. Perhaps it wasn’t fair of him to dislike her, but he did. He was torn between avoiding any further contact with her, or taking the class just to reassure himself that she was not, in fact, Sam’s girlfriend. “I’ll consider it.”

Dean came back over, his friend in tow. “Everything okay here, Sammy?”

“Yep. Hi, Lisa.” Sam held up a hand in greeting.

An entire conversation seemed to pass between the brothers before Dean nodded. “I’m gonna head off with Lisa, we’re meeting up with Pamela and Jesse.” He handed Cas the Impala keys. “Look out for Sam for me, okay?”

“Of course, Dean.” Castiel dropped the keys into a pocket of his trench coat. Once Dean and Lisa were gone, Castiel looked to Sam. “I see him leave with her frequently. Why would he need to pretend to be dating her?”

“It’s complicated. He’d drop everything for her in a heartbeat, if she asked, but she won’t ask. She’s not convinced he’d choose her over me, and since she’s got a kid, she doesn’t want to take that chance. I don’t see why he’d have to choose between us, but it’s her call, right?”

Castiel nodded. Becky sighed. “They should totally just get together. Idiots.”

Sam set his empty glass on the table. “You ready to head out for the night, Cas?”

Castiel looked at his half-drunk beer, and then up at Becky. He nodded. “Whenever you are.”

As soon as Castiel started the car, Sam slid down in the seat so his head could rest on the back. “Becky is one of the many reasons I don’t go to the bar with Dean very often. She’s a good student and when she gets interested in something she’ll work her hardest to learn everything there is to learn about it. She kind of creeps me out though, when she pulls things like that. I don’t know if she really believes she’s my girlfriend or if she thinks that saying it often enough and acting like it will make it come true. She’s wrong. I am never going to date her.”

Cas glanced over at Sam. “Are there others who do that?”

“No. The other reasons are more about my general preference for quiet and solitude over noise and crowds. It’s not like I’m looking to hook up, Bobby keeps us well-stocked enough that I can get drunk at home, so I only go to hang out with Dean.”

 

Castiel chose to take both the early American history class Sam was teaching as well as the Norse mythology class, along with introductory biology and chemistry. The chemistry class required him to take a math class as well, so Castiel decided to do that after a quick consultation with Sam. Bobby had officially hired Castiel as an assistant, so he didn’t have to worry about money or finding an outside job if he didn’t want to.

Sam got the math book and worked with Castiel to make sure he understood the notation and wouldn’t start off behind. “If you can get the math down, you’ll pick up the scientific stuff easily enough. You speak English, so my classes won’t have a translation problem.”

“I’ll keep my head down and try not to ask stupid questions in class. I do know the basic flow of American history, but I know nothing of Norse mythology.”

“You’re better off than some of my other students will be then, because you don’t have things to unlearn! Norse mythology is the basis for a popular comic book series, but it’s a very loose interpretation. A lot of kids come in full of confidence that they know everything because they’ve seen the Thor movies, only to learn that a lot of that is wrong. Whatever questions you ask, they can’t be stupider-sounding than the ones I get about when we’re going to learn about Jane and Darby and the Avengers. I had one girl last year who kept asking questions about Loki until I finally snapped one day and told her that Loki was actually the archangel Gabriel in disguise.”

“And she believed you?”

Sam smirked. “I wish. No, that was the last day of class and she didn’t have another chance to ask.”

“Oh. I suppose that is the more likely outcome.”

 

Castiel found the classes he took enjoyable. Sam was a good teacher, going beyond the bare facts of history to tell the stories, and going beyond just the stories in mythology to explain their context and how the stories affected the culture. The math was simple for him. He’d been taught that math was the universal language, and once he made the mental transition from base 12 to base 10, he found that it was true. The processes of multiplication didn’t change from one world to the next. Science was harder. His cells had many of the same organelles and produced proteins the same way, but the vocabulary was different, and his translator wasn’t necessarily equipped with it. Same thing with chemistry.

“I had not expected chemistry to be the subject that made me feel stupidest,” Castiel admitted to Dean one day after getting his first test back. He’d done well, only missing two questions, but even that frustrated him. “I understand the concepts better than anyone else in the class, probably, but the way they’re expressed is so different!”

Dean looked at the test. “Okay, mixing up photons and protons is not that hard to believe.”

“No, perhaps not. Electron configurations are so much less intuitive this way, though. I’m sure if I’d grown up on it, it would make more sense, but it doesn’t.”

“I grew up on it and it didn’t make much sense to me." Castiel smiled ruefully. Dean reached for the book. "Sam told me once that the best way to be sure you know something is to teach someone else. I ain’t the smartest, and I quit biology and chemistry as soon as I could, but if you wanted to teach me, I’d be willing to try to learn from you.”

“You would?”

“Yeah. You said you don’t get electron configurations. I remember what an electron is, but explain the configuration part to me.”

Explaining electron configurations to Dean really did help Castiel solidify the principles in his head, and despite Dean’s warnings, he proved to be a good student who grasped the concepts quickly. When Castiel closed the book, finally, Dean brought him a beer. “Hey. Tomorrow’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

“Hmm?" Castiel tried to remember the random date they'd chosen. "No, it’s in July, I think.”

“Your real one, not the one Sam made up to have Ash put on your ID.”

Castiel thought back, doing the conversions. “Yes, I suppose it is. It doesn’t line up perfectly…”

“No, but come out back, I wanna show you something.”

Castiel followed curiously. Dean led him into a storage room he kept the Impala’s spare parts in. One wall was entirely covered by a massive calendar, with some days marked – including tomorrow. “What’s this?”

“It’s a calendar. As much as possible you need to assimilate into our culture and forget yours, and I get that, but no reason you can’t keep some things about your home with you. Sammy agreed and helped me do the math to figure out some things.” Castiel’s birthday was marked in blue. Dean pointed to a green mark. “My birthday.” Sam’s birthday was marked in red, and Bobby’s in yellow. “If there’s any holidays you’d want to celebrate, just say the word and we’ll mark ‘em on here.”

Castiel’s eyes welled up, overwhelmed at how much work this must have been for Dean and Sam. Still, there was a huge concern. “What do you tell people it means?”

“First off, nobody comes in here except the four of us, because I don’t trust anyone else to work on my baby. On the off chance someone does, I’ll just tell them it’s research for Sam and a book he’s writing. Everyone around here knows that Sam’s been wanting to write a fantasy novel since he was in high school, and he occasionally starts making plans only to get sidetracked. Sam’s seen this, he’ll play along.”

The tears overflowed at that. Once he'd calmed himself down, he had an idea. “Why not make it real?”

“Huh?”

“It’s a bit of a grey area, but if it’s clearly fiction, I see no reason Sam couldn’t use my calendar and other elements of my culture for his novel.”

Dean’s eyes lit up. “See, I knew you’d be good for him!”

Castiel picked up a black marker and marked a day. Dean looked at him curiously. “The day of the crash. Not exactly a day of celebration, but many holidays honor the fallen.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Dean planted himself on a table to watch as Castiel started marking. “Speaking of the crash. Ash called this morning. Said the government’s moved the wreckage out to Area 51.”

“Ash knows…?” Dean and Sam trusted Ash, but Castiel wanted to keep his true identity as secret as possible. Sam had said they'd told Ash he was a hunter. Had Sam lied?

“Ash and I have been arguing over the existence of aliens since we met each other. Ash believed, I didn’t until I met one. He tells me about things like ‘unidentified aircraft wreckage’ when they pop up in government files. It’s buried, they don’t plan on doing anything else with it unless there’s another one, since they can’t make heads or tails of it and we cleaned it well enough that they can't prove it’s alien. You’re safe.”

“That’s good to know.” Castiel set down his markers and sat beside Dean. “Thank you.”

Dean shrugged and waved a hand in dismissal. “The calendar was fun to work out, even if I did need Sam’s help on the conversions.”

“Not just for the calendar. For everything. For taking me in, protecting me, letting me be part of your family. I can’t imagine a better scenario for being the only survivor of that crash.” A cough made both Castiel and Dean jump. “Sam! How long have you been here?”

“Not long. Bobby sent me out to get you two for dinner. Long enough to hear Dean say you’re safe now?”

“Good. Then you heard my gratitude. That’s for you, too.”

“I know. The crash was awful and I’m sorry it happened, but I am glad to have gotten the chance to know you.” Sam hugged Castiel. “Come on. Dinner’s waiting. You know Bobby gets grumpy when he’s cooked something and we let it get cold.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt fill from Tumblr from LadyShadowphyre: "What am I if I fall in love with a being from another planet? ...No, I'm just wondering of course."

Dean and Cas were at the bar, and Bobby had gone with Jody and Donna to clean up a nest of vampires in Minnesota, leaving Sam at home alone when Max and Alicia Banes dropped in. Sam immediately closed up his laptop and ran for the hugs. “Hey guys! It’s good to see you!”

“You too, bro. You lookin’ good, you manage to get a crop of non-idiots this semester?” Max hugged back. “Cut your hair? Get to a gym?”

“I, uh…” Sam ran a hand through his hair and tried to fight the smile back. “Kids are idiots like always, I’m growing my hair out, and I guess I have started lifting some weights but I don’t think I look all that different from it. Cas wanted…”

“Cas? Who’s she?” Alicia interrupted as she claimed her own hug. “You got a girlfriend?”

“No! No, Cas is an old friend of Dean’s. Sort of.” They’d be curious, but the evasiveness was not exactly uncommon between them. “He’s trying to figure out what to do with himself now, so he’s taking some classes at the community college and helping Dean and Bobby here. Don’t tell him this, but I’ve seen the grades the TAs are giving him in my classes, and he’s gonna ace them both.”

Max had a new boyfriend - Tasha Banes didn’t approve, and Alicia was skeptical. “Benny’s a great guy, but he’s a vampire, and I’m not convinced he’s not dating Max just for the free blood.”

“You’re letting him feed from you?” Sam wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like the sound of that.

“Sort of. I found this spell and created a magic goblet… I drop a couple drops of blood in it and it fills itself up. It’s good blood, human blood, nice and warm and just the way he likes it, and then I let him suck my finger too. Alicia just worries too much, and Momma thinks she raised a necrophiliac.”

“Well, technically, he is dead, Max,” Alicia said.

Max rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at his sister. “But he’s mobile, sentient, and able to give consent. It’s not like I’m going to the morgue to find dates. Calling it necrophilia is like saying you’re into bestiality because of that time you fucked a merman.”

“What am I if I fall in love with a being from another planet?” Sam mused. He didn’t mean to say it out loud, and didn’t quite realize he had until he had two very curious stares trained on him. “No, I mean, I’m just wondering. Since Max has the necrophilia thing and Alicia’s got the bestiality covered…”

“Depends. Does your alien friend have tentacles?” Alicia asked. “If he does, you’re a dude who’s watched one too many Japanese cartoon porn movies.”

Sam tossed a pen at Alicia. “Shut up.”

“If we’re talking Star Trek alien where they’re basically human but with pointy ears or bumpy foreheads or big ears, you’re just a dude who likes aliens. Xenophilia? I dunno.” Max’s eyes twinkled as he took a drag of beer. “Of course, that’s better than what most of the hunting community thinks you are.”

“Oh, don’t remind me. Retirement’s been so nice. I haven’t been called a brotherfucker once since I settled in Sioux Falls!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Tumblr prompt: "Lock the doors and turn on some classical music, it helps."

The growl of frustration penetrated even Dean’s loud mullet rock, and he pushed himself out from under the Impala. “Sammy? You okay there, bro?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

Dean examined his brother. Hair going every which way, bags under his eyes, red marks on his face from leaning on his hand, and Dean was pretty sure he’d been wearing that same shirt the day before. Upon a slightly closer look... yes, definitely. That was taco sauce from last night’s taco dinner. “Yeah. You’re good. Tell me you slept and make me believe it and I’ll let it go.”

“I slept.” Dean crossed his arms and leaned back on his Baby with one eyebrow raised, and Sam grudgingly came clean. “Okay, I didn’t sleep. I’m just frustrated. This love story is going nowhere!”

“Lock the doors and turn on some classical music, it helps. For nerds like you two, anyway,” Dean suggested.

“How’s that supposed to help Kamilah get Arulkhan to notice she’s in love with them? They’re being agonizingly dense!” Sam pulled his laptop back toward him. “How even would I describe classical music in her culture? This is print, not a movie, it doesn’t come with a soundtrack, and their instruments aren’t exactly the violins and flutes and pianos we associate with classical music...”

“Oh, that love story,” Dean said. “Sorry, dude. Can’t help you there. I don’t know shit about their culture, for all I know locking someone in a room with you and turning on music is a declaration that your family intends to have their family killed and their house burned.”

“What the hell, Dean? Why would you lock yourself in with them if they knew it meant that?”

Dean shrugged. “Honor? You’re the sacrificial victim to allow them their chance at vengeance, and if they hurt you they can’t do anything else about their losses? I dunno, man, I’m just trying not to assume their culture’s the same as ours.”

“You...” Sam shook his head. “No. You’re ridiculous.”

“Thanks.”

“So what love story did you think I meant? That’s kinda the big one in this book...”

Dean’s shoulders shook a little. “Not the one in the book, Sam. The real one that, at least from where I’m standing, seems to be stuck.”

“Huh?”

“Cas, dude. The fuck are you waiting for to get that going?"

“He’s... he’s doing great, but he’s still learning human culture, and I’m still his primary teacher, not to mention I’m his literal teacher! He’s taking part 2 of my American history survey classes next semester, and he’s still trying to decide between taking the classical mythology or the introductory writing class I’m teaching next semester. Either way, it’s two classes...”

“So?”

“So he’s my student, and that would be unethical?”

“You’ve already got all his grading handled by TAs. He’s living with us and the school knows it. It’s not like you’re seducing some random teenager who thinks sleeping with the prof is a free ticket to an A.”

“And that’ll stop Becky from harassing me?”

“If you have Becky problems, you know I’m happy to have a word with her.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: One Small Kiss, Pulling Away For An Instant, Then Devouring Each Other
> 
> [LadyShadowphyre](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowphyre/pseuds/LadyShadowphyre) deserves co-author credit for this one as I’m just developing [this into fic.](http://archiveofourown.org/comments/124807182)

Visiting the bar became more frequent for Sam, now that he had Cas to use for cover. Castiel was very happy to have him there - sitting close together, the occasional casual touch, Anna would probably call Castiel an idiot but he would gladly take what he could get.

Right now, Sam was off playing a game of darts with Dean against some visiting friends of theirs, Ellen and Jo Harvelle. Castiel had chosen to stay at the table to make sure no one took it. He regretted that when Becky came walking up to him. “Sam’s busy.”

“I know. You don’t interrupt him when he’s in a game of darts against Jo Harvelle. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You and Sam are weird! Sam never lets anyone sit close like that, even when they’ve got a bunch of friends visiting, except Dean. And you know, I know they’re brothers so it would never happen, but if I didn’t know they were brothers I’d think there was something else going on there. I mean, everyone knows Sam’s bi, and there are a lot of people who think Dean is too he just won’t admit it for some screwed-up reason.”

A shout from Jo drew Castiel and Becky’s attention. Lisa had just showed up and interrupted the game to plant a kiss on Dean. Becky smirked. “And then there’s Dean’s thing for Lisa. They really need to just get together already, don’t you think?”

“I think when and if Dean and Lisa get together is entirely up to the two of them, and that my opinion of the matter is completely irrelevant.”

“Whatever. So why does Sam let you so close to him?” Becky asked.

Sam sat close to Castiel because it helped keep clueless people from coming over and hitting on either one of them. Sam acted in a way that would cause people to assume they were together so that people would make that assumption. Therefore, Castiel didn’t hesitate to tell Becky, “There is something happening with Sam and me. We are not brothers.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it wasn’t a lie, either. Castiel had fallen in love with Sam in his not-quite year on Earth, and Sam... Castiel wasn’t certain whether it was wishful thinking or truth that Sam seemed to enjoy the excuse to act like boyfriends as much as he did.

Becky pouted. “No fair. I saw him first!”

Castiel scowled at her. He’d never liked Becky, but this sort of petulance was pushing it into active hate. “It’s not about who saw him first. It’s about who Sam chooses to be with that matters, and he has made it very clear that he does not choose to be with you. If he chooses to be with me, you have no right to interfere, and I’m certainly not enough of a fool to say no and attempt to force him to choose you instead just because you ‘saw him first’.”

A gasp drew both of their attention. Sam was standing right there. “Cas?”

“Sam. Becky was...”

Sam stared at Castiel, and then moved to press a soft kiss to his lips. He pulled back. “Is this okay?”

“Yes. Very.” Castiel pulled him back into a much stronger kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompted on Tumblr: "All due respect, but that's a bunch of crap."

The only people surprised by Sam and Cas kissing in the bar, other than Becky, were the people who knew Sam and didn’t think he’d ever go for that kind of PDA. Word spread quickly, Sam got to have a brief meeting with his boss at the college to make sure that if Cas took one of Sam’s classes he’d be treated fairly, and then it was just an accepted thing in Sioux Falls.

Again, other than Becky, there were very few people who had a problem with it. One of them, surprisingly, was Lisa Braeden. One day, when she’d brought Ben over to the salvage yard for car maintenance lessons with Dean, she caught Cas while Sam was grading papers. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Castiel set aside his biology textbook. “What’s on your mind?”

“How much do you know about Sam and Dean’s history before they settled in Sioux Falls?”

“Enough to know that I don’t want to know too much specific about it. Why do you ask?” It was the answer they’d worked out a long time ago for people fishing for information about Sam and Dean’s history. Castiel knew a lot more than he was comfortable sharing, because they want it kept secret.

“Well... I know they haven’t gone tearing off since you’ve been here, but occasionally, Dean will just disappear for a couple weeks. If it’s summer, Sam will go with him. Sometimes, a few days after Dean disappears, Sam will disappear, too. Most of the time they’ll come back with injuries they refuse to explain.”

That made sense, of course. When they went to help an old friend with something, it was bound to be a rough fight. “Okay...”

“How are you going to deal with Sam running off like that? Doesn’t it bother you that he’d put his brother over you? I love Dean, but if he’s going to disappear from my life, is it really worth getting more involved than we are?”

“Yes. All due respect, but that is...” What was the Earth term... Dean was usually good at this... oh, right. “A bunch of crap.”

Lisa blinked and tilted her head. “Huh?”

“If I were to find Sam had left to go to Dean, in a situation where they were likely to be hurt, I would be mad at Sam. Not for going, but for leaving me behind. Dean and Sam are very close for adult siblings. The only way to truly love one is to love them both.”

“Wait, you and Dean are...”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “Differently, but love is the correct descriptor for seeing someone as a brother, is it not?”

Lisa rocked back in her chair. “Yeah. Okay. But...”

“I know it’s different for you, because you have Ben, but try to place some faith in Dean. Has he ever failed to come back to you?”

“Well, no, but...”

“If, one time, he ends up not making it back, do you honestly believe that it’s because he didn’t want to come back?”

“No, but...”

“If Dean were the kind of man who would say no to a friend asking for his help when there’s no reason he can’t provide that assistance, would you still love him?”

Lisa opened her mouth, closed it again without a word, got to her feet, and walked out of the room. Ten minutes later, Dean showed up. He crossed his arms and glared at Castiel. “What the fuck did you say to Lisa?”

“I answered a question she asked me. It would seem she didn’t like my answer.”

“Well, she took Ben and left. Didn’t say a word to me. Any idea why?”

“I think she may be having to reevaluate some things based on my answer to her question, and she didn’t feel comfortable talking to you until she’d had time to think. I’m sorry she took Ben, I know how much you look forward to having him over.”


End file.
